The Friend Zone

Chapter Ten: Loud and Clear

 "Holy shit!" I squealed as we watched The Purge on Thursday night in Taylor's room.

"We've seen this three times," Taylor laughed, "How is it still freaking you out?"

"Because it's freaky as hell!" I whined, burying my head in his chest.

"Wanna go out?" he asked.

"Do I have to?" I groaned.

"Please?" he whined, "For me?"

"Ugh, fine, only because it's the only day I'll be able to," I sighed, "Will you drive me back home so I can change?"

"Sure," he said, "Let me change first then I'll swing by your place."

"No way in hell I'm walking in this snow," I said as I looked out the window and watched the fat fluffy snowflakes fall to the ground at a very rapid rate.

"It's really coming down out there isn't it?" he said as he changed his shirt.

"Yeah," I said, "We're definitely taking the shuttle."

###

"You take too long to get ready," Taylor groaned as he laid on my bed and played Candy Crush on his phone later that night.

"Not all of us can just throw on a flannel shirt and be ready for a night out," I laughed as I swiped a coat of red lip gloss onto my lips, "I'm ready, you can stop bitching now."

"Finally," he sighed, shutting his phone off and getting off my bed, "You clean up nice," he grinned, looking me up and down. I had thrown on a pair of high rise jeggings and a grey crop top and a black jacket completed with a pair of leather boots with three-inch heels.

"I'd say the same for you but, I'm a bad liar," I smirked as we walked downstairs.

"Aw thanks, babe," he laughed, slinging his arm around my shoulders as we walked out the door.

###

"This place smells like smoke and booze," I laughed as we stood at the bar down at Caf.

"It always does," Taylor grinned as he grabbed our drinks.

"Thanks," I said, taking my drink from his hand, "I'm going to need a few more of these to ignore the smell."

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure you get more," he replied.

"You better," I smirked, "Want to dance after I down whatever you ordered me?"

"Of course," he replied, slipping his arm around the small of my back.

It had been ages since I'd gone out like this, sure house parties were a blast but the atmosphere here was completely different than the nasty ass basements of the college-owned houses. The lights were blinding, the scent of smoke and liquor filled the room like a fog and the beat of the music made the floor vibrate like it was a heartbeat. I think I needed it, I needed something to take my mind off everything else that was happening at the moment. And I sure as hell wanted time to spend with Taylor now that he was allowed to be around me and we didn't have to worry too much about Kayla going apeshit.

I felt like I deserved a chance to be totally stupid and irresponsible for a few hours, for just one night. So I forgot about all the rules I was breaking and didn't mind that the music was too loud to understand and quite frankly I was too drunk to care as Taylor and I moved to the beat of the music.

A few hours later, we were both too drunk to dance so we had crashed at a table in the far corner with more than a few empty glasses that had collected on the table and a full glass in front of each of us.